


They’re close, in that proximity has made their lives blur together

by awfuldaring



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-23
Updated: 2016-10-23
Packaged: 2018-08-24 07:15:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8362714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/awfuldaring/pseuds/awfuldaring
Summary: They’re close, in that proximity has made their lives blur together, and where Link pushes, Rhett caves in, and vice versa, but they don’t talk much, not since right around middle school when he started noticing for real how pretty girls were.  They’ve grown up together and know so much about the other that each knows without having to ask why the other is stressed (because Link has three finals on the same day and he didn’t want to petition to move one of them because he thought it would be better to get them all done on Monday, but now he’s terrified and pulling all-nighters for a week straight). Which is a real concern.





	

**Author's Note:**

> The porn doesn’t start until page 14 out of 16. You can ctrl+f to "little indignant".

Okay, so Rhett admits to this, he is definitely a little girl-crazy, and he doesn’t keep that a secret from Link, but they don’t talk about it either. It’s never been what they did, especially not Link.  

Now that he’s in university, Rhett’s going to parties with people he meets from class and around the quad, and he’s decided that he’s making out with boys too, and it’s not going to be a _thing_. Of course it’s not a thing, and of course it’s not a secret from Link. 

So when he makes out with boys or makes out with girls and gets them off in their dorm room with a stupid sock tied to the doorknob like they agreed, Link knows what’s happening, because they live together, and he’s totally cool with it, Rhett thinks. But they aren’t that close, so he can’t be sure.  

Or, well, Rhett thinks “close” is not a fair description. They’re close, in that proximity has made their lives blur together, and where Link pushes, Rhett caves in, and vice versa, but they don’t talk much, not since right around middle school when he started noticing for real how pretty girls were.  

They’ve grown up together and know so much about the other that each knows without having to ask why the other is pissed (because Rhett left his _fucking_ _chinstrap_ all over the sink after shaving yesterday morning) or stressed (because Link has three finals on the same day and he didn’t want to petition to move one of them because he thought it would be better to get them all done on Monday, but now he’s terrified and pulling all-nighters for a week straight). Which are both real concerns.  

For instance, that last one, right now. 

Rhett hears the keys jangle outside his room and slide into the lock, and Link comes into the room, sighing heavily and slinging his backpack over his chair and setting a disposable paper coffee cup on his desk. It’s chewed-up on one side, because Link refuses to start chewing his nails again since he quit at the end of elementary school, but he still gets the urge to chew something when he’s stressed.  

From across the room, Rhett sees Link’s hands are shaking from the caffeine, but his eyes are dry and red, and Rhett knows that Link can’t sleep like that. Or, maybe he _can_ sleep, probably immediately, Rhett thinks, with how Link is sometimes, but Link’s so wired that his brain isn’t working right, and so it won’t _occur_ to Link to sleep.  

Rhett knows he’s going to try to cram as much fucking industrial engineering into his brain before his self-imposed deadline of 4 AM. He thinks it’s a little ridiculous how Link’s been sleeping like three hours a night, and how it can’t be healthy for him, but Link feels compulsively guilty if he gets good sleep during exams, even though staying up late might actually be _removing_ the material that Link’s learned from his brain in the first place.  

Rhett also thinks it’s ridiculous because Link studied all the time, so this is all review, so he thinks that Link is capable of so much more if he isn’t freaked the fuck out before exams, but Link hasn’t decided to listen to him about this yet.  

“Hey, bo.” Rhett says, breaking the silence. 

“Hey.” Link manages a wan smile. Maybe Rhett’s concern is written on his face, because he follows that up with, “I’m fine,” even though both of them know better. 

“How’s studyin’ going?” Rhett asks.  

“Oh, you know,” Link says, too scattered to explain further. Rhett remembers that it’s the night before the Day of Horrible Finals anyway, there’s no way that Link was going to be able to retain anything at this point. He is going into finals week having studied every night and weekend, so Rhett knows he’s going to be okay. 

“Whatcha have left to work on?” Rhett pushes gently. 

“I think at this point I have most of diffy-q down, or at least as much as I am willing to spend on it, and I’ve highlighted a bunch of problems I’m going to redo for practice during lunch between physics and diffy-q. I don’t know how much more I should study for that….”  

Link is off on a roll now, rambling about his anxiety, his words accelerated by caffeine and lack of sleep.  

About ten minutes later, Link ends with, “….so I have a little bit of assembly for my mechanical final project left to do. It should be pretty easy but I left all the actual physical parts here, so I typed up all of the accompanying notes and did all the drawings before coming back to the dorms.  

“I wonder if you could….you know….give me a hand with that?” Link asks shyly, before rushing on to say, “Because I gotta turn it in by 9 AM and I have like three finals after that, and it’s going to be such a long day, but I can totally do it if you are studying for your own stuff….” 

Before Link can finish, Rhett says, “No, yes, of course I’ll help,” and gets up off his bunk. “Where is the stuff? I got this.” 

Link breathes a sigh of relief, and for the first time in several weeks, the tightness around his eyes ease. He picks up the box of parts, handing it to Rhett, along with what looks like about a twenty-page stack in a manila folder. “Thank you so much. Seriously. I already got all the blueprints written out. I swear, all you have to do is put it together…” 

“No, yeah, I took this last semester, remember? It’s okay. Go do your thing. I’ll ask if I have questions.” Rhett sits on the floor, already opening the box of parts. 

For the next two hours or so, Rhett’s hands move quickly over the project, assembling the small piece of machinery using Link’s blueprints. Rhett thinks that it was genius, really, the way the little robot was constructed, everything wired for efficiency, like Occam’s razor had its way with the blueprints, clearly showing Link’s meticulous drafting. 

“Hey, I’m done,” Rhett announced, standing up and stretching. The dorm room floor was hell on his back, not that he was ever going to say anything, with the way Link was hunched over his notes again, shoulders tight. 

When Link’s eyes find the little robot, he smiles, cheeks going round, the way he’s always smiled. “Thanks _so_ much, bo. Seriously appreciate it.”  

“Yeah, you _totally_ owe me now,” Rhett teases, poking Link in the shoulder. “It’s two already. How much are you going to retain in the next two hours? You’re just re-reading what you’ve already re-read a million times by now. Look, get up. Go to bed. I’m turning off the light. _I_ need to sleep.”  

“Yeah, okay, I’ll keep my desk lamp on. Go ahead, turn off the light –“ 

“Nah, man, _come sleep_. Seriously.” Rhett can be a stubborn mother-fucker when he wants to be, too, and his tone doesn’t allow any argument. 

“But –“ Link’s voice is small, tired.  

“No. Come here.” Rhett walks over to Link, pressing on his shoulders, like how they do, sometimes. Touching isn’t weird, especially if you’re brothers, especially if one of you really, really needs a shoulder rub, Rhett thinks. 

“Oh. _Oh_.” Link slumps forward, revealing his neck.  

Rhett is especially proud of his _amazing backrubs_ , and says so. “I’m _great_ at giving backrubs.” Link lets out a scoff that turns into a sigh. “Even Crystal said so – “ at the mention of her name, Link’s back tensed, but relaxed at the next stroke of Rhett’s thumbs on his neck, “—while we were still dating. We broke up a couple weeks ago. Sorry I didn’t tell you.” 

“Nah it’s fine.” Link’s voice was muffled in his arms, where he’s put his head down. “You know I don’t care who you fool around with, ‘s long as you remember the sock thing if you fool around in here.” He turns and says lightly, “Don’t wanna see more than I want to, you know.”  

Rhett totally wants to show off his backrub skills, but the way the desk chair is, he can’t reach the base of Link’s spine the way he wants to. He heard somewhere (during physical therapy in high school? He can’t remember) that it’s not usually just the muscle itself that’s tight, but everything around it. Like if a person’s lower back is tight, it’s probably the muscles stretching across the front of their pubic bone that’s also tight. Like an equal and opposite reaction, Rhett thinks. He’s not very sure about anatomy, but as an engineer, that made sense to him. He thinks that if he can get all of Link’s back loosened up, and maybe his arms and shoulders too, that would make Link feel _really_ good, and his reputation as an _amazing backrub-giver_ would be complete.  

Rhett thinks that making Link feel good is one of the best things in the world. Actually, he thinks that he just wants to keep Link safe in his pocket, like some fucked-up Holden Caulfield. Rhett thinks the McLaughlins were kind of strict, sometimes, but he thinks that Link can’t even depend on his parents to make good life choices for themselves, much less for Link. Rhett thinks that he wants to tell them, straight-up, sometimes, how much they hurt Link with their _dumbass life choices_ , especially when he was younger. Sometimes, at dinners over at Link’s mom’s house, he thinks he might just let his anger at how they don’t seem to consider Link at all tumble from his mouth, and his hands shake as he sits right there at the dinner table, looking down at the flimsy paper napkin on his lap, but he thinks that Link’s mom will probably hate him then, and not let him come around to Link’s house anymore. And probably Link would be mad at him, like he sometimes is, when he thinks Rhett isn’t letting him fight his own battles.  

But now Link is here, with him, flopped over boneless on his bunk, Rhett’s bunk, making soft sounds of innocent pleasure under his thumbs. Rhett has a swooping sensation somewhere around his stomach. Link’s skin is tan and smooth. There are a couple of scattered freckles at the base of his neck, where his shoulder meets his neck. He gets the sudden urge to kiss it, like he would if Link was a girl (or boy, now that they’re not in Buies Creek anymore, and he’s making out with boys now) he met at a party, but he’s not, so Rhett settles on touching it with the pad of his hand on the next upstroke.  

As his thumbs move in the divots of Link’s shoulders, Rhett talks softly about his plans for hybrid foods, like a breakfast burrito but instead of a tortilla, he’d have a pancake, like, an honest-to-god fluffy pancake, not a crepe or anything. He thinks this will work dipped in both sweet and savory condiments, or both, because he thinks tomatillo salsa and strawberry syrup might be a good combination. Or, like, a Thanksgiving pie with mashed potatoes, gravy, and cubes of turkey, under a coating of candied yams and toasted marshmallow.  

He thinks that Link was too wound up at the beginning to enjoy Rhett’s _most amazing massage ever_ , patent pending, without overthinking, but now that he’s like five minutes in, he thinks Link is going to have trouble getting up from the desk, the way he’s so relaxed.  

Rhett lets his words trail off as he concentrates on emulsifying Link’s entire back, concentrating on the parts that he hears Link make a noise at. 

Link has simultaneously the most powerful and fragile shoulders, Rhett thinks. Rhett can trace the curve of his collarbone over his shoulder, and his shoulder blades on his back. Rhett thinks Link is like that, all over, simultaneously the strongest and most fragile person that Rhett has ever known.  

When he reaches the bottom of Link’s ribcage, he realizes he’s at the point that he was thinking of earlier, where he can’t reach anything else further down, the base of your spine can't be relaxed until you get the tailbone, and he wants to _prove_ that he’s the best backrub-giver, damn it. 

“Link?” he says softly, resting a hand on Link’s shoulder. 

“Mmmhrm?” Link raises his head from his desk, where he’s pillowed his hoodie. His bleached hair is mussed over his forehead and his throat has gone croaky, like he had nearly fallen asleep right there on the desk. 

“Can you move to your bunk?” Rhett asks quietly. Rhett thinks it’s probably a good idea for Link to fall asleep in his own bunk, if he’s going to fall asleep in the middle of a backrub, instead of in Rhett’s or something, because he would probably fall asleep the next place he lands. 

“What?” Link looks blearily at him, eyes trying to widen, but too tired to really protest. 

Rhett pulls the chair out and turns off the light, shutting the door to their room. In the light from the closed blinds, he can barely see the outline of Link crossing the room, and from where he stands in the door, he hears the creak of Link lying down into his bunk. 

Rhett remembers that Link falls asleep in ten seconds flat. Rhett really wants to continue where he left off, but he thinks this is probably not the best idea to keep Link up before his finals just because of some weird compulsion to show off his massage skills.  

Or whatever compulsion it is, Rhett thinks, and wrenches the tumbling in his chest into a box and puts it on a shelf. A _metaphorical_ shelf, Rhett thinks. It’ll have to wait.  

Rhett sets his own alarm clock to go off at 6:30, then moves it back to 7, even though his own final isn’t until the afternoon. He knows that Link would have set his own alarm clock to go off at 6:30 or earlier for an 8 AM lecture, because he likes to press snooze like a billion times, and then work himself up rushing to make up for the lost time, but Rhett thinks he can probably get Link up faster. 7 it is. 

Rhett makes a note to run to the cafeteria for a cup of coffee for Link and entice him with it to get him out of bed. Rhett likes coffee as much as the next person, but Link seems to think it’s nectar of the gods.  

“Rhett?” a groggy voice comes down from the bunk. 

“Link?” he teases softly.  

“Can you hand me my alarm clock?” 

“Nah, I got it. I’ll wake you up in the morning, don’t worry.” 

“With enough time for me to brush my teeth and shower and all that?” A tinge of anxiety started to make its way back into Link’s voice, and Rhett can’t have that. 

“Yeah, dude, I got you. You know I’m a light sleeper. I’ll poke you until you wake up. I’ll throw my Big Macs from the freezer right into your bunk.” 

Link laughs and shifts in the bunk. “Thanks, bo.”  

Rhett closes his eyes. A warm feeling has settled in his chest, warming him from inside, making it easier than usual to go to sleep.  

Right when his limbs feel heavy, as if from a great distance, Rhett hears Link still moving in his bunk. Link seems like he’s still shifting in his bunk, which almost never happens. Link is usually out like a light, and hard to awaken, too. 

“Link?” he croaks. 

“Rhett.” All sleep has disappeared from Link’s voice, and he seems totally awake and more than a little anxious again. 

“What are you doing?” 

“I don’t know,” Link says, in a small voice. Rhett hears Link curl up on himself. Rhett’s chest hurts a little from worry and exasperation, and it’s the time of night when Rhett isn’t sure of what’s happening anymore.  

“Can I come up?” Rhett’s chest is aching from trying to make things better, but Link is like a cornered injured woodland creature, and Rhett doesn’t want to make the wrong move and send him bounding away. 

Link becomes still. 

“Please, can I come up? I’m just going to continue my backrub, I promise.” 

Rhett thinks the best thing that’s even been given to him in the entire world is how much Link trusts him. “Okay.” 

Rhett pulls on a terribly worn, soft pair of pajama pants – Link lets him sleep in the nude but he probably shouldn’t climb into Link’s bunk with his _parts_ flapping everywhere, he thinks – and clambers up the ladder, head grazing the ceiling as he swings his leg into the bed. 

“Hey.” Link is on his back, head turned towards Rhett. Rhett can see the light filtering in the windows reflected in Link’s eyes. From the expression on his face, Rhett can tell that Link is letting his thoughts get the best of him. Link can’t sleep, Rhett realizes. 

“What are you doing?” Link whispers. Rhett can feel his breath grazing his nose. Rhett thinks that he hasn’t been this close to Link in a long time. Link is shirtless and in his pajama pants too. 

“I’m giving you a massage. Flip over.”  

Rhett’s thumbs start from the top again, reworking the same area, sensitive parts around the base of his skull, down his neck, across his shoulders where his sharp collarbones meet the flesh. By the time he’s gone down to where he couldn’t reach any further before, Link has lost most of the tension in his back, and making the soft happy noises into his pillow again.  

“Hey, I’m going to go lower.” Rhett’s hands are resting in the small of Link’s back. 

“Mmmm. ‘Kay.” Link didn’t seem to care at all, as long as Rhett kept stroking his back.  

Rhett’s hands are trembling now. He hasn’t ever touched Link’s ass, like, ever, even though they’ve been friends for so long, because prolonged touching of butts isn’t a thing that guys do. Like, they rough-house, and he’s probably had his face smashed into various parts of Link’s anatomy for varying amounts of time, but it’s not the same as this. 

He pushes against the base of Link’s spine, carefully at first, then firmer. Link makes a happy, relaxed noise, almost a purr, as he seems to melt right into the mattress.  

Through the barrier of Link’s pajama pants, Rhett works all the way down his ass in slow circles, until he meets Link’s thighs, which he knows are ticklish.  

Link has an _amazing_ ass, Rhett thinks, firm and muscled, like the rest of him. It fits nicely in his hands, Rhett thinks, he can just about span the diameter of Link’s waist if he really tried, and, again, gets the urge to touch Link everywhere all at once. Rhett is starting to accept that maybe he’s in further than he thought with Link, really.  

Rhett starts over again from his shoulders, and starts rubbing down Link’s arms to his wrists, then rubs long strokes down Link’s spine, which has started to warm up from all the rubbing. 

It must have been at least fifteen minutes, probably almost half an hour, now. Rhett feels terrible about stopping, but he’s starting to get a cramp in his thumbs. 

“Link?” 

“Mmm?” Link sounds muffled through the pillow, like even pushing air through his lungs is too much effort when he’s this comfortable.  

Rhett really, really wants to stay here, for the rest of his life, he thinks, but he’ll settle for tonight. Just to sleep here, in the cocoon of blankets that smell like his best friend.  

Because, otherwise, Link won’t be able to go to sleep, anxious and jittery from the coffee, and want to study more, Rhett thinks, and Rhett can’t let him do that before one of the most trying days of Link’s college career so far.  

Or that’s what he tells himself anyway. And all that skin just looks so, so smooth stretched over Link’s back –  

“Can I sleep here tonight? So I can wake you up in the morning?” Rhett tries to give Link an out, so it’s not going to be awkward in the morning. 

“Mmm.” Link sounds really, really tired, like he’s going to be cranky soon if Rhett keeps trying to talk to him. 

“Okay.” Rhett thinks it’s probably not a good idea to question it too much, in case Link decides to wake up and grump at him.  

Rhett’s not totally sure where to put his arms or legs. He settles for channeling a piece of 4x6, stiff with his arms by his side. Rhett compromises the awkwardness of this sleeping position with his desire to touch Link by turning towards him, so he sleep on his side and watch Link breathe in the light of the window. A plank of wood on its _side_ , Rhett thinks. Totally. 

Rhett has never been so careful with anybody in his life, but nobody has ever made the butterflies in his stomach flop so anxiously before, either. He’s always charging headfirst into all his relationships (or make-out sessions, or -- well, rejections, he thinks ruefully), especially with pretty girls. His philosophy is that there are a lot of pretty girls (or pretty guys) out there, you know, and if one rejects him, then there’s another one for him to obsess over, and of course they aren’t the same, but that’s the fun of it, to learn all the intricacies of them, or, if he’s just watching them in class, then just _imagining_ the intricacies is enough, sometimes. But Link is different, there’s only going to be one of Link in the world, and he _really_ doesn’t want to fuck it up.  

Link’s hair is soft against the pillow, and he reaches a hand to touch it. He’s still bleaching it, but the roots are growing in, now that it’s finals week. Rhett makes a mental note to offer to bleach the roots out for him this week, after all the finals, or buzz it the way Link does with his hair, the way they used to do, together. He can’t help but touch a wispy part, by his neck, where it looks softest. 

“Mmm?” Link shifts. 

“Sorry. It’s okay, go back to sleep.” Rhett puts his hands back at his side, and scooches the bottom half of his body under the covers, settling in. 

Rhett can hear Link’s breathing start to even out, and catch in his throat once before he starts to breathe deeply the way he does when he’s asleep. His eyelashes fan over his cheeks, Rhett notices, and he looks young and vulnerable with his hair mussed and his mouth gaped open.  

Rhett closes his eyes and matches his breathing to Link’s, breathing in Link’s scent all around him, and feels himself doze off too. 

Rhett wakes up to the beeping of his alarm clock, resting on his bottom bunk. He sees Link completely knocked out next to him, mouth open, eyelashes fanned over his cheeks. Rhett can’t help his smile as he hurriedly hops off Link’s bunk and presses the alarm clock.  

With that movement, Link stirs. “Mmmhhrm?”  

Rhett stands two steps off the ground, so that his head and shoulders are in Link’s bunk. “Hey.”  

One of Link’s eyes squint open at Rhett, then closes again.  

“Hey. Hey. No going back to sleep.” Rhett shakes Link’s shoulder gently. “I’m going to run to the dining hall for a cup of coffee. If you shower and brush your teeth before I get back, we can walk towards the lecture halls together.” 

Link’s perked up considerably with the mention of imminent coffee. “ _Two_ cups of coffee, you mean. You’re going to the dining hall for _two_ cups. One for you, one for _me_.” Link is clearly trying to conserve his words at 7 in the morning, but coffee is _really important_.  

Rhett hides a smile, and says, “Fine.” 

When he gets back, Link looks more awake, and his mussed hair is damp. He smells like he’s just come out of the shower.  

Rhett hands a coffee over to Link, asking, “You ready?” 

Link blinks up at him, before taking a sip of coffee. “ _Yes_ , oh god,” he moans, eyes closed in ecstasy. 

Rhett swallows thickly. There are not many things that Link takes this much pleasure over. Rhett feels a rush of exhilaration that _he_ is the one to cause it, and his cock is suddenly interested in the moan. Rhett can see Link’s Adam’s apple bob, and Rhett has to restrain himself from reaching over and kissing Link’s exposed throat. 

Rhett clears his throat, saying softly, “Let’s get going.”  

Rhett wordlessly sticks a banana into the mesh water-bottle-holder on the side of Link’s backpack for Link to eat later. Link never ever purposely skips meals but sometimes he doesn’t think things through, so Link forgets to grab meals when he can, stranding himself across campus. 

The day passes without any event. Rhett cloisters himself in the library after eating a breakfast burrito, studying for his second to last final of the semester, and then he _took_ the final, and then he went back to the library for more studying for the last final. He dropped by his professor’s final office hour to verify some of his work, jogged around the soccer field a couple times around sunset in lieu of working out properly, showered, had an overly-crusty chicken parm at the dining hall, before going back to the library for more three hours.  

By the time he gets home around 11, he smells something lemony wafting from the open door and finds Link meticulously organizing the room, wired from too much caffeine. Again, Rhett thinks, sighing internally, Link is at this again, but he guesses he can’t have expected anything less on such a long day for Link. At least Link’s done with all the finals, and just doing this to relax.  

Rhett puts his backpack on his chair, and goes back in the common area to play a round of street fighter with Gregg. Link comes out when the laundry beeps, then goes back into their room, shutting the door softly behind him.  

After the street fighter and a round of peanut butter jelly sandwiches, Rhett feels exhausted from the early call that morning with Link.  

“Hey, man, I’m heading in.” Rhett stands and stretches, walking towards the shared bathroom. 

Gregg doesn’t look up from street fighter, but raises his left hand in a salute. 

Rhett brushes his teeth and changes into his super soft pajama pants. He thinks Link could be asleep, from the way he was trying to exhaust himself extreme-cleaning their bedroom, so he pushes the door open gently, then slides in and shuts the door behind him quietly. 

Rhett hears the tinny noise of headphones emanating from Link’s bunk, which doesn’t indicate much. Sometimes Link falls asleep with his headphones in his CD player, listening to whatever artist is on repeat recently, so Rhett creeps over and slides into his own bunk.  

Rhett’s just glad that Link isn’t still in his manically-cleaning mode, because Rhett is tired. Rhett’s been a little worried for Link this week, even though this happens every semester. It’s a little exhausting being Link’s friend, Rhett thinks.  

As he’s drifting off to sleep again, Rhett hears soft, rhythmic rustling.  

Rhett thought Link was trying to find a good position at first, because he can hear the entire mattress quietly giving way around Link, but it was too regular for that.  

 _What the hell?_ Rhett thinks.  

An unmistakable gasp and muffled moan comes out next.  

Rhett freezes, heart thumping rapidly in his chest, as he realizes what is happening.  

Link is totally humping the mattress and getting off. That’s why he was still up. And now Link thought Rhett’s fallen asleep. 

Rhett knows Link got off at least once rubbing against the mattress. In middle school Link had behaved strangely for a couple days before blurting it out, leaving Rhett to picture Link thrusting against his childhood mattress after Link left for the day.  

Rhett tried it, too, that night. It was so hot to think that someone could come that way – that _Link_ could come that way, he remembers thinking now – that Rhett had come, too, hard and fast, all over the old t-shirt he’d laid on the mattress cover beneath him.  

Rhett had no idea that Link could still do it, in university. Rhett hadn’t done it that way in quite some time himself, now that he had lube and stuff lying around to jerk off with. Plus, there was no need to hide in his covers from prying brothers who might burst in without knocking while Rhett was trying to get off. 

Rhett is hard in his pajama pants, now, picturing it again. Link is about four feet above him, half-naked, writhing in the sheets, shoulders beginning to glisten with exertion. Link’s mouth would be open, panting, neck exposed like it had been, this morning, with the coffee. Rhett palms himself through his pajama pants, sucking air in through his teeth.  

“Link?”  

Link freezes.  

“Yeah?” Link’s voice is doing the thing where Link sounds like he wants to crawl into a hole and die, but is trying to be nonchalant. 

Rhett doesn’t know what to say next, because Rhett _literally_ cannot believe he just did that. Like, it’s so silent in the room, Rhett could have imagined it. Maybe he did imagine it. Maybe he’s _manifested_ his disembodied voice, because he wanted to touch Link so badly.  

“Rhett?” Link’s still a little shaken, but his voice is starting to take on a bit of grumpiness. “What do you want?” 

“Um.” Rhett’s having some sort of out-of-body experience, he’s sure of it. Rhett hears his voice, from far away, say, “Can I come up?”  

Rhett’s really gone off the deep end now. Like, maybe he’s lost his goddamn mind. He’s trying to do the cognitive dreaming thing so hard, he’s probably literally dreaming in real life. 

“Um. Okay.” Link sounds a bit confused, but….hopeful? Rhett can’t be sure. 

Rhett slides out of his bunk, rearranging his pajamas and checking that his _boner_ isn’t there anymore, and climbs up to Link’s bunk, and sliding under Link’s covers with practiced ease.  

Link stares back at him, blue eyes reflecting the light from the window. “What’s up?” he says, softly.  

Rhett rearranges his legs to fit on the bed, touching Link’s a little on the knees. He’s been up there a couple times, it’s not even weird anymore, even if his stomach still feels fluttery and his palms get sweaty. It just feels nice. 

“I wanted to talk, I guess.” Rhett says. 

“About what?” Link says, sounding a bit guarded. 

“I dunno,” Rhett says, pathetically.  

He can feel the warmth that Link’s left on his side of the bed, and wants to chase it. His arm is basically touching Link’s. He could so easily just slide about an inch to the left and touch him, Rhett thinks. 

Link’s arm feels warm and like the rest of Link, except he’s not here giving Link a backrub. He’s here, resting the back of his arm against the back of Link’s arm.  

“Have you heard of that guy in Germany who went online to find someone to eat his dick?” Rhett asks. 

All the tension in the room seems to be exhaled through Link’s laugh. “What?” 

“Yeah! He found this one guy who was also into cannibalism. There’s actually a lot of people online who find each other on that message board. Something about carnality and power dynamics, probably.”  

Link hasn’t moved his arm away.  

Rhett’s puts his hand on Link’s hand. Rhett really, really hopes that all that antiperspirant he used to put on his palms has somehow helped a little, because fuck if his palms aren’t sweaty as fuck right now.  

Link takes Rhett’s hand in his, under the covers.  

“Yeah? Did the guy really get his dick eaten?” Link looks like he’s trying not to smile. 

“ _Oh_ yeah. He requested that his dick be eaten first, so he made his cannibal saw his dick off. It took four hours in the bathtub.”  

Rhett is so, so happy right now. 

Link is gripping his hand naturally now, as if they’ve always held hands, instead of stopping in middle school.  

“Four hours!” Link exclaims. “How!” 

“Apparently he read a Star Trek book.” Rhett says. 

There’s a silence, during which Link takes the opportunity to tilt his head to the side until his head is laying on Rhett’s shoulder. Rhett’s had other people lay their head on his shoulder, but it’s never felt so nice.  

“Rhett?” Link says. 

“Hmmm?” 

“What’s this?” Link asks. He sounds calm. 

“Um.” Rhett is definitely sweaty again, looking at the ceiling. He’s really glad Link isn’t facing him. “I kind of…like you. I like you a lot.” He wants to fall into a giant hole of embarrassment, but he got it out.  

“I like you too, Rhett.” Link says, grinning up at him.  

Rhett feels a sudden surge of warmth from the butterflies in his stomach. He scoots a bit closer to Link, feeling their bodies touch along the sides, and properly holds Link’s hand, putting his elbow between Link’s arm and his torso.  

“Link.” Rhett says. “I like you a lot though.” 

“I like you a lot too, Rhett.” Link says. “What happened to the guy getting eaten? Did he go through life without a dick? That happens to people, you know, who get into accidents and such. Or like. If you didn't have a dick it'll be totally normal and isn't a thing to me.” 

“Oh. Well. It was a landmark case in the judiciary system in Germany, because the guy ended up dying. They couldn't figure out whether to charge the other guy with murder or not.” Rhett says. 

“Oh! Oh no.” Link says. “I was hoping he’d do write a book about it. Like _The Sun Also Rises_.” 

“Yeah, the saddest thing is, they tried to cook it, but it was too tough. They ended up feeding it to the dog. So like, this guy’s gone and cut his dick off for nothing. And then he bleeds out and dies, and they try the other guy for murder.” 

“Rhett, this has been the most boner-killing conversation I’ve ever had in my life.” Link sounds both fascinated and long-suffering as he turns to face Rhett. “I hate you.”  

Rhett turns to face Link, and was surprised by how close Link’s face was to his.  

Rhett can’t help but stare at Link’s lips as Link’s smile slowly faded. Link looked calm and happy, holding Rhett’s hand, his face almost touching Rhett’s, so close that Rhett could see the smoothness of Link’s lips, could feel the minty warmth of Link’s exhale. Wait, what did Link mean, _boner_ -killing….? 

Rhett’s sliding down a halfpipe with uncontrollable momentum.  

Rhett leans forward and presses his lips against Link’s, softly, chastely. 

Link immediately returns the soft press, and kisses a second, a third time, soft, close-mouthed kisses, before he pulls his other arm from under the covers and rests his hand on Rhett’s jaw.  

Rhett had no idea that he was into people doing that, but he sure was, when it was Link doing it. He opened his mouth, letting Link lick into his mouth. It was so wet, so warm, and so intimate, he could swear he felt the skin on the back of his arms vibrate with electricity. 

Rhett worries Link’s bottom lip between his teeth gently, and Link gasps, pressing his hips forward into Rhett’s. 

The kisses turned sloppy, and Rhett begins to pressing soft open-mouthed kisses across Link’s neck, and to his ears, licking and sucking, pulling gasps from Link’s mouth. 

“Rhett. Rhett.” Link sounds muffled. 

Rhett really, really doesn’t want to stop. Rhett wants to keep kissing him, and he wants to touch Link everywhere, because he’s beautiful and Rhett is horny as hell.  

But Rhett stops, with great difficulty, because he _respects_ other human beings, and huffs at Link. 

Link’s eyes are blown and his lips are pink and swollen with kissing. Rhett’s dick twitches at the sight, uncooperatively. 

“What?” 

“Can we talk about this?” Link looks nervous, like he’s bracing himself for something horrifying. A bear to dive forward and bite his head off, maybe, or a dragon to gather the steam to incinerate him. 

Like a cold bucket of water had been dumped on his head, Rhett freezes and moves to the edge of the bunk. “What? What’s wrong?” 

“What are we doing?” Link sounds soft but his expression is difficult to read. 

“Um.” Rhett feels like he’s about to cry. “Well. I like you. I really, really like you.” He doesn’t know what else to say. 

“Did you come up here for a quick fuck because you heard me getting off?” Link’s words tumble out in a rush, and he can’t meet Rhett’s eyes. 

“No!” Rhett replies immediately, almost indignant. “I’ve wanted to do this for so long, Link. So long. I think I didn’t even know how long, I just didn’t realize it, and suddenly it all makes sense, Link.” 

 “Me too, I think.” Link says, finally looking at Rhett again.  

Rhett relaxes, a little, wrapping an arm around Link, pressing a kiss to the top of Link’s head. He feels Link smile against his chest.  

“Am I going too fast?” Rhett says. “We can definitely slow down. I will go as slow as you want.” At the risk of sounding corny, he adds, “You’re worth it to me.” 

“Okay, that sounds a bit ridiculous, Rhett.” Link says, laughing a little, and pressing a kiss on Rhett’s cheek. “I kind of want to go back to where we were. Making out, you know, finding out weird kinks I had, such as getting my ear _rimmed_.” 

Rhett is a little indignant that his making-out skills are described so crudely, but at least Link is enjoying it. 

“Fine,” Rhett says, licking Link’s bottom lip, before kissing him again. 

They’re making out when, instead of stopping at their waistband, Link keeps going. Link’s pulled down Rhett’s pajama pants and started licking right down his happy trail while palming Rhett’s dick.  

Rhett is so surprised that he can’t speak, because it’s usually Rhett that makes the first move.  

Rhett motions desperately for Link to move closer so he can touch him too.  

When Link comes closer, Rhett seizes the opportunity and flips Link over. Link is dazed and his lips are swollen and his eyes are blown as he lands, flat on his back, underneath Rhett, and Rhett loses his breath with desperation.  

Rhett puts his hand on the base of his dick and rubs it once, twice on Link’s hip, smearing precum on Link, because he can’t help but touch himself, before gathering himself and backing up towards the foot of the bed.  

Rhett licks his own precum from Link’s hip, from the V-shaped groove where his hips meet his legs, and Link’s hips jerk up. Rhett can feel his facial hair dragging along the inside of Link’s thigh as he settles between Link’s legs.  

He feels suddenly bashful, and can’t seem to look up, but he wants to make Link feel good, so he licks the tip of Link’s dick tentatively.  

Link gasps and moans, hands fisted in the sheets.  

Rhett moves up and straddles Link, licking Link’s neck and into his mouth and then his opposite ear, making Link groan and put his hands around Rhett’s head, before moving back down towards Link’s dick again.  

Rhett wraps his lips around Link’s dick, flattening his tongue around the head and licking the taste of salt and slipperiness from Link.  

Link is making groaning noises now, and his fingers back in the sheets.  

"Rhett, I swear to god, if you keep doing that, I'm going to come in your mouth," Link says breathlessly.  

Rhett doesn't think there could possibly be anything hotter in his life. 

"Do it, Link," he manages, as he presses his hips against the bed. He could very well start jerking off, but he wants to put his entire effort into this.  

"Oh, oh fuck, Rhett," Link says, hands coming around to grasp at Rhett's hand at the base of Link's dick, "Oh fuck." 

Rhett swallows a little, so that the head of Link's dick is resting at the back of his throat as Link comes, toes curling, hips canting up. He swallows, pulling another, "Fuck, fuck," from Link's lips, as the back of his mouth fills with come.  

As Link relaxes back onto the bed, Rhett swallows any come that was still in his throat, and tastes salt and sweet. Rhett crawls up to Link, licking into his mouth. 

"Come up here, Rhett." Link looks spent, but reaches towards Rhett.  

"No, flip over." Rhett says, on his knees, jerking his dick. "I'm so close, Link, you're so hot, flip over." 

"Flip over....?" Link says, but, bless him, he didn't question it more, as he flips onto his stomach.  

"You're so hot, Link, look at your back, look at your ass, look at you." Rhett says, pulling Link's pajamas the rest of the way down his legs.  

Rhett sees the tips of Link's ears redden, but Link says, breathily, "Yeah, you wanna come on me, Rhett? Gonna get me all dirty with your come?"  

"Oh, fuck yeah," Rhett says, straddling Link, like he did several nights prior, but, this time, he could see Link fully, even more beautiful than his imagination had cobbled together from the little glimpses he'd had all his life. 

"Jerk yourself on me, Rhett. Come on me. You're so hot," Link says, looking over his shoulder at Rhett, blushing. Link pushes back towards Rhett, so that the moonlight illuminates the curve of his ass.  

Rhett pushed his hips forward, so that his dick could rub on Link, so he could rub the head of his dick all over Link's back, his ass, his thighs, and watched them glisten with his precum, like he had marked Link for his own. 

The thought hadn't even properly registered in his mind before he felt the familiar tug in his balls as he was coming all over Link, uncontrollably thrusting forward, so that his dick was resting between Link's buttcheeks and the head of his dick splattered come all up Link's back.  

"God, you're so hot when you come," Link says. "I love you." 

Rhett's mind was still reeling from coming so hard, and he didn't even know how to respond to that. "I love you too. Let me go get a washcloth or something for your back." 

"Yeah." Link said, laughing a little. "You came everywhere." 

"Yeah, well, you were hot," Rhett retorts, rummaging around their room. "Where the fuck have you _organized_ the towel I had on the floor to?" 

"It's hanging in the closet, to the side, because that's _gross_ , Rhett, how can you towel off with something that's been on the floor?" Link says, exasparated. 

Rhett climbs back up and gently wipes down Link's back, before flipping Link over and kissing him on the mouth. "I don't know. Good thing I have you around to take care of me, huh?"


End file.
